Wednesday, April 4, 2007

I missed once a month

Everything begins with good intentions. I had planned to update this blog at least once a week, if not more frequently. Of course, I've mad plans in the past to block out a consistent writing time for myself. This becomes more and more challenging the further along my wife is in her pregnancy. Add to the mix a 34-month old boy with a daily release of energy somewhat comparable to Chernobyl and good intentions tend to walk out the door.

No, I am not blaming my family or the life we have for my failure to produce the kind of writing that I am longing to create. Especially this past month. I have had so much going on that all I can think of is the next opportunity I'll have to relax. There hasn't been much of that going on lately. I won't go into the details now, but in the last month I've unexpectedly ended up trading in my Saturn Vue for a Pontiac Vibe (a wonderful vehicle), sang with a 118 voice choir, and threw a large surprise birthday party for my wife with less than two weeks of planning time. Needless to say I've been deepening the perpetual circles under my eyes over the last several weeks. I'll have to go into detail on some of the events I mentioned at a later time. The vehicle exchange and the surprise party are especially good stories that need to be told.

For now I'm going to bring up something I discovered in a podcast I was listening to at work today. First, let me explain my still-evolving podcast habits. My friend Jason Heath, of Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog, and the Contrabass Conversations podcast, introduced me to pod casting last summer. By the end of summer I had purchased my first mp3 player, a Creative Zen 8 GB Micro Photo. I have greatly enjoyed this mp3 player, and am glad that I chose this over an iPod. This is mainly because most non-iPod mp3s coming out these days have their own built in FM receiver. I appreciate being able to use the same device to listen to the radio, my music, and my pod casts.

I started downloading pod casts, using iTunes, before I even owned the mp3 player. Mostly I tracked down online fiction pod casting magazines. I have the opportunity to listen to my headphones at work so I've been a fan of audio books on CD for a long time. Some of the first sites that Jason introduced me to were Escape Pod, the science fiction and fantasy online podcast magazine, and Podiobooks.com, a provider of free audio books in podcast format (Although you will always find the opportunity to donate to a podcast or free provider of audio books).

When I downloaded a podcast I'd usually retrieve as many of the older pod casts as were available. For example, when I subscribed to Escape Pod, I ended up downloading about a dozen stories all at once. I would then listen to all of those stories before moving to one of the other pod casts I subscribe to. Once I've caught up with a podcast I will then listen to each episode as it becomes available.

Well, because of this (here's where I get to the point) I was listening to the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Podcast posted 01/25/07. Sci-Fi and Fantasy Podcast discusses movies of those genres. The movie being discussed that week was The Dark Crystal, the Jim Henson and Frank Oz movie from 1982 During their discussion they announced that there is going to be a newly released Dark Crystal movie. They were not sure if it will be sequel or re-make. IMDB.com does not have much information on this subject. I am hoping to do some research in the near future here to determine exactly what is going into this film, and what kind of script they will be using. If anyone out there has information on this film, please feel free to leave a comment.

Well, it is getting late on me, and 5 am creeping closer and closer. I will close this post with the hope that I will be posting again for you in far less than a month. Be well.

5 comments:

Jason Heath said...

Thanks for the mention! I forgot to link to you earlier last month--I'm going to do so right now, and I will also write a post telling people to check out your new blog.

Isn't the Survival Guide to Writing Si/Fi and Fantasy a great podcast? I think that Tee Morris (sp?) goes a great job, and I only wish that he would put it out more often.

I'll keep checking in, and I hope that you find time to keep writing. I know it is hard (I've been blogging since 4:45 a.m.this morning), but you're such a great writer, and I like readying your work, so for selfish reasons I want to see you keep writing regularly.

Kanteker said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

There's an old saying about the best intentions. Might have something to do with pavement. Or mice. It's 5:31 in the morning, and I could be mixing metaphors.

Regardless, good luck on the writing. I try to post frequently, but life continues to get in the way. So I take what I can get and just try to continually improve.

Thanks for mentioning us at Podiobooks.com and I hope we can keep bringing you stories you enjoy.

Aaron said...

I hear you about the whole "life getting in the way" thing. Except for me it's Final Fantasy 12. And Guitar Hero 2. I'm hopeless.

Kanteker said...

Jason, actually, the podcast I was referring to is simply the Sci Fi and Fantasy Podcast. They do strictly movie reviews. The Sci Fi and Fantasy Podcast is hosted by Anthony Mangano. He has had a couple of co-hosts in the past, Scott and Billy. I believe he currently waiting to release more episodes because he is waiting for Scott to rejoin him in May.
Tee Morris also has some wonderful podcasts. The Survival Guide to Writing Fantasy and the audiobook podcast, Morevi: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana, available at Podiobooks.com